Chapter
Thirty-Nine
“Don’t panic, Princess.”
His voice rang like a gong as Astra’s eyes cracked open, a thick fog descending over her mind.
A glittering white hall materialized before her, decked in silver and gold, the floor polished to a pristine finish.
She only knew because she kneeled over it, wrists bound behind her, head hung forward. She’d been changed into a silk dress, the fabric hardly concealing anything as it hugged every curve, falling into a pool of moonlight on the floor. Her hair was swept away from her face and secured with a silver crown of stars. The points dug into her scalp as she blinked, trying to shake off the strange clouds around her mind.
The bags under her eyes suggested she’d been out for a while.
“Astra,” an alluring voice hummed. Her head snapped up, three figures before her. One was the man in black, his fingers resting against his chin as he studied her, his face round and tan, two dark eyes staring down his knotted nose. The second appeared to be a woman of Elven descent, though Astra couldn’t place her. Dripping in rosy shades of blush and pink, her skin glowed in a subtle shade of lavender, set off by iridescent pearls falling from the pointed tips of her ears. Perhaps one of Ehlaria’s ancestors.
She looked at Astra as if she was trash left in her path. In the middle stood a proud queen, even more frigid than Oestera. Her sharp glare sent a shiver down Astra’s spine.
Selenia.
“Grandmother!” She dipped her head, unsure how to address her in this setting.
“No Lunar princess should ever kneel. Get up.”
She shook her head, desperately trying to disperse the fog. Selenia sighed. “Alastair.”
A single command.
The man in black stepped behind her, wrapping his hands sharply around her wrists as he yanked her to her feet in one swift movement and tugged at the binds, freeing her. He returned beside Selenia, looking bored with the entire affair.
“You’ll pardon his attitude,” she said with little effect. “He detests when I send him down to the Courts Between.”
Alastair glared. “Worse than that, I found this one in the Astral. She didn’t put up a fight, at least.”
“I didn’t have the chance!”
“Now, now,” Selenia silenced her. “I did not bring you here to argue. I want you to join me as my honored guest this evening. We’re celebrating the Ascent of Neptune’s late queen. You’ll stay, of course.”
“Do I have a choice?”
“There’s always a choice, darling.” The way her eyes washed over Astra with a searing disdain told her she did, indeed, have two choices—stay or suffer Selenia’s wrath.
“Why me?”
Selenia chuckled, “I think we both know why I’d want to see you again.”
“Again?”
She glanced at the woman beside her as they shared a sly smile. “Have you forgotten our run-in the other night?”
“Oh,” Astra breathed. Unforgiving eyes flashed to her mind in the crowd at The Flare.
She stepped closer, the icy chill of her screaming at Astra to back away. All three held thick walls around their inner worlds, locked down from every angle. Astra should have expected as much.
“Stay for a few drinks. Alastair is a fine dancer. And after you’ve enjoyed yourself, we’ll have a little talk. Sound fair?”
“I assume I’m dressed appropriately?”
“For a half-human,” Alastair mocked.
